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December 09, 2002
Stargate
I racked my brain trying to remember why I liked this movie after rewatching about 90% of it last night before deciding conversation with my co-viewers would be more fun. It occurs to me that the first time I ever saw it, it was the only thing playing at the PX movie theater some weekend while I was in Korea. So it gets a 2.5 because I remember it better than it plays now, which is worth .5 or so.
The plot involves a gate to another planet, people with guns, a big bomb, the guy from The Crying Game (proving that playing a drag queen won't kill your career, but playing an Egyptian space-child star-pharoah might), and some "cow-like creature slobber" humor.
We get Kurt Russell's signification of "torment" and "soulfulness" (he lifts a psychic finger now and then, to wiggle that he's still alive under his attempt at "smoldering but cold"). We also get a flustered and bookish James Spader, who manages to make "charmingly addled" repulsive and frustrating.
Whatever it was I liked when I first saw this, I can't remember it now, though I suspect it had something to do with the space Egyptians or the fact that Kurt Russell's hair almost warranted a uniform of its own. Maybe the added material of the "special edition" on the DVD made it drag on too much, elevating it from "fast B-grade romp" to "slow, awful wallow." In a living room, it comes off as loud and small: much better suited to the weekly series it has become.
Posted by mph at December 9, 2002 01:00 AM
Comments
Urm - ya. I was one of those co-viewers. I'm twitchy when it comes to movie watching, and generally need a break if the pace isn't fast or the story line isn't gripping. (Note: Jackon's LOTR kept me in my seat the entire movie, twice. Unheard of in my book.) After the like third break in Stargate however, we indeed just had more interest in talking to each other rather than watching the show. I really hate stupid military characters and this movie was pretty high up there on the stupid meter. Ok, so you have found a portal to a planet across the galaxy and you're sending in your first team to explore this strange and new world - why would you send a bunch of nancy-pants who get tweaked at a sand storm... in the desert?!?!I like the TV show quite a bit - it is quirky and has neat people I like watching. I was hoping that the movie would be in the same vein and give some interesting background. The pace was so plodding that it physically beat any interest I might have had right out my ears.But those are my thoughts...
Posted by: Michael Burton at December 12, 2002 08:24 AM